“Talk, and make it good,” I tell them, relaxing back into the couch with Arlo at my side and our hands locked together.
“Well, Luna met this biker,” Rosie says, and I squeeze my eyes shut, praying for patience.
20
“Oh dear,” Arlo whispers, covering her mouth with one hand and leaning forward, totally invested in the story Rosie’s still telling a half hour later.
“You going to keep dancing around the truth?” I ask her as I open my eyes and narrow them on her and her drunk-ass sister.
Rosie’s eyes widen. “I’m telling you the truth,” she sasses, when she has no room to sass.
Fucking girls, man.
They’re the worst.
Guys get a bad rap, but we’re at least up front about our shitty behavior. Not girls, though.
I cock my head and cross my arms over my chest, trying to remain calm, but I’m close to snapping. “You’re taking the long road to get to the final destination.”
“Just tell him so I can sleep,” Luna begs, leaning over and staring at her legs. “He’s going to find out anyway.”
I turn my head the other way, cocking it to the right side. “And how will I find out?”
Luna shrugs. “Small-town bullshit,” she mutters and lifts her head, looking like absolute shit.
My cousins are beautiful, but right now, they look like they partied too hard, which they did. The path they are going down is bad, and somehow, I’ve been tasked with getting their shit together when mine isn’t even tight.
Fucking ridiculous.
“Maybe you should wait until you’re back on campus to act like idiots. Then you wouldn’t be on my couch, asking for me to give you shelter and lie for your asses.”
Rosie rolls her eyes. “We don’t ask for much.”
My entire body tenses. I take a deep breath, reminding myself these aren’t my kids. “How many times have I shown up at your door after midnight asking the same?”
Rosie chews on her lip but doesn’t take her eyes off me. “You’re right. We’re selfish assholes.”
“Damn fucking straight, I’m right.”
Arlo puts her hand on my knee, but she doesn’t look back at me, keeping her body facing my cousins.
It’s a silent gesture to remind me to keep that damn calm I’ve never been good at keeping and probably never will be.
“Go on,” Arlo tells Rosie. “We’re not here to judge you.”
I twist my lips, keeping them shut. Rosie’s gaze moves from Arlo to me, and she’s expecting me to say something, but I don’t.
“Fine,” she breathes and rubs at her eyes with her palms. “We went to a party down by the caves.”
I grunt, knowing the spot all too well.
Rosie’s eyes are on me again, but I stay silent, letting her talk. “We brought a six-pack to split, promising we wouldn’t drink any more than that. This is the last place we wanted to end up tonight.”
“Then what happened?” Arlo asks before I can say something completely sarcastic.
“We had two beers each, and Luna had been flirting with this guy.”
“He was hot,” Luna adds, swaying next to her sister with a lopsided grin.
“Luna, shut it,” Rosie tells her, pushing her with her shoulder, making her lean to the other side of the couch before she goes on. “Anyway, I walked off for a few minutes to talk to some old friends, leaving Luna with the hot biker guy.”
“Dumb,” I mutter under my breath.
Rosie shakes her head. “When I came back, she told me she was having some punch, but she was acting funny. She offered me her cup and I coated my lips without taking a sip, and I knew. I fucking knew she was going to be wasted.”
“Well, you were right. She’s wasted.”
“I know,” Rosie says, but at least there’s remorse in her voice this time.
“I tried to dump it out, but Luna flipped out, taking the cup from my hands and downing the entire thing in one giant gulp.”
“It was fruit punch. What’s the big deal?” Luna asks, not even able to keep her eyes open anymore.
I hope like hell she’ll pay for her behavior tomorrow. She isn’t blameless. If Rosie could smell the alcohol, so could Luna, but she didn’t care. She deserves a wicked hangover and to be around our loud-ass family while dealing with it, too.
“It had a splash of fruit punch,” Rosie tells her.
Luna shrugs. “Whatever,” she mumbles. “It tasted good.”
“Don’t listen to her. She’s not thinking right.” Rosie excuses her sister’s behavior, something she’s done a lot of in her life.
I understand them, though. They are twins like Rocco and me. We always have each other’s back…always. I don’t care what he does wrong; I will never turn on him and will do whatever I can to shield him from bad, just like he’s done for me. That’s how the twin life is and always will be.
“I’m not entirely convinced they didn’t slip something else into the drink either. She was way too shit-faced for the amount of time I was gone. It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes, and Luna has a higher tolerance than that.”
“They may have drugged her,” Arlo agrees, her hand tightening on my knee, sensing my mood change.
“Fuck,” I hiss, my anger shifting from the two dumbasses in front of me to whoever slipped something into my cousin’s drink.
“Don’t do anything,” Rosie tells me. “They’re not worth the hassle.”
I lean forward and grind my teeth together as I stare at my cute little cousin who wants to grow up way too fast. “You don’t fuck with a Gallo and get away with that shit, Rosie. You can fuck with the men, but fuck with one of our women, and there are going to be issues.”
“No,” she snaps. “That’s not fair. Luna fucked up. She knows better than to take a drink from a stranger. And I didn’t recognize the guy. I’d never seen him before, and finding him probably won’t be easy.”
“Small town, Rosie. If he was there, someone invited him, and I’ll have no problem tracking him.”
Arlo’s face pales as she turns to look at me. “Carmello,” she whispers, begging me not to do what I want to do.
“Arlo, it’s a family matter and a decision I won’t and can’t make alone.”
“I don’t want to visit you in jail or the morgue,” she says, her eyes filled with fear.
“Sugar,” I say, lifting her hand to my lips. “I promise that won’t happen.”
“Can I go to sleep now?” Luna asks, slumped over on the cushion next to her, hardly even awake now.
“No,” I tell Luna, turning back toward Rosie, who’s barely moving. “Keep talking.”
“You can be mad at Luna for being stupid, but being this messed up isn’t her fault, Mello. We made a pact to keep our noses clean this summer, saving the hard stuff for campus. I swear to God, this wasn’t supposed to happen. You believe me, don’t you?”
I stare at my cousin, having known her since the day she took her first breath. She’s never lied to me, always coming clean when she fucks up, and I can read her tells after twenty years. “I believe you.”